The present invention relates to a direct current power supply for electric vehicles, of the type including a modular set of electrical storage batteries which are electrically interconnected.
It is in particular intended for supplying power to electric materials handling vehicles.
The power supplies of electric vehicles conventionally use a set of batteries each of which is capable of delivering a voltage of the order of 2 volts or a multiple of 2 volts, for example, the batteries being connected in series or in parallel inside a battery box accommodated in a housing provided for this purpose in the vehicles.
Obviously, to reduce the number of battery charging and discharging cycles, and consequently to increase their service life, it is necessary to use a large number of onboard batteries to provide sufficient electric power.
The object of the invention is to provide a power supply for electric vehicles which is capable of containing a large number of storage batteries in a small space.
It therefore consists in a power supply of the aforementioned type characterized in that the batteries are disposed in battery boxes which can be stacked to constitute a stack of modules.
Thus the general overall size of the power supply is adapted to suit the number of onboard batteries and unoccupied free space is therefore reduced.
Various embodiments of a power supply according to the invention can further include one or more of the following features, individually or in all technically feasible combinations:
at least one of the battery boxes includes a housing adapted to receive a battery charger for charging said batteries;
a portion of at least one of the battery boxes has a lateral wall delimiting a passage for cables for connecting the batteries;
the lateral wall of at least part of the battery boxes includes openings for ventilating the batteries;
the lateral wall of said battery boxes is higher than the batteries and the openings are delimited by cutouts formed in the projecting edge area of said lateral wall; and
the lateral wall of the battery boxes includes handling means adapted to cooperate with lifting equipment.